


lunch time shenanigans

by writteninred



Category: Black Clover - 田畠裕基 | Tabata Yuki
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Finral Roulacase is a Good Bro, Finral the (Useless) Wingman, He’s Trying Okay, I Refuse to Believe She’s Never Done This Before, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Series, Vanessa’s Canon Crush on Yami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-07-28 03:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16233359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writteninred/pseuds/writteninred
Summary: the one where Vanessa convinces Yami to take her out for lunch, then flounders her way through it all—and Finral is not helping that one bit, despite his best intentions.





	lunch time shenanigans

**Author's Note:**

> somehow, i have fallen into this rabbit hole and i’m horrified that there aren’t any more fics about this pair of king and queen.

Finral had disappeared into the crowd some time ago, quickly excusing himself on account of a “pretty lady in distress.” The look he’d shot her—a strange combination of a reassuring gaze and a knowing smirk—had let Vanessa in on the secret that there probably wasn’t a pretty lady in need of Finral’s desperate help. But before the captain could’ve voiced his own objection about “losing his ride,” or the pink-haired witch could point out Finral’s itty-bitty white lie, Finral had long since faded out of sight.

Vanessa suspected foul play. Then again, it only made sense that the _one_ person who complained about everyone’s lack of self-preservation could run fast.

And so, she and Yami had stood there, silently cursing the spatial mage for two very different reasons, until something that vaguely resembled Finral’s magic drew her attention to a little tea shop tucked between two clothing stores.

She squinted at the glaringly shining ball, leaning closer and closer until all that was left to do to get a better view was to stand right in front of the store. Which she did, stalking towards the storefront intently, unaware that she’d left Yami behind.

”Oi,” a rough voice said, breaking her out of her daze. 

Her head snapped towards her captain, who looked at her with an irritated look on his face. _Nothing too different from normal,_ she thought.

“Captain!” Vanessa shot him her regular smile. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied, his dark eyes trained on the same place her own purple ones had been. “Didn’t know you liked tea.”

Startled, the pink-haired witch looked up at Yami. “I—“ she cut herself off, unsure of what to say. She didn’t like tea as much as she liked her wine. But there was a strange look in her captain’s eyes as he peeked inside the store.

Her eyes flitted from side to side, briefly catching a glance of brown hair. Sure enough, a few meters away was Finral’s head sticking out of one of his portals. It nodded vigorously at her as his hands, contorted into a thumbs up, shoved through as well. A woman dropped her bags at the sight and Finral took that as his cue to leave, leaving Vanessa with a one last wink.

 _Well then..._ Vanessa breathed out.

“I thought the store looked cute,” she lied, smiling when he looked at her. “It’d be nice to sit down and have lunch, wouldn’t it? Who knows when Finral will show up.”

Actually, she was certain the younger man would show up periodically to check up on her progress and give her support. He was far too invested not to do so (“Maybe if Yami-san gets a girlfriend, he’ll be less scary.” “I doubt that, Finral.”). If she said that out loud, however, his hard work and her chance to spend more time with Yami would be spent with nothing to show for it.

”Huh,” he said, after a moment, as if he was trying to gauge whether she had any hidden motives or not. 

The thread-magic user rolled her eyes and looped an arm around one of Yami’s own, dragging him inside the quaint little shop.

”I’m not paying,” the captain of the Black Bulls declared flatly as the two sat down on a table near the entrance. 

 _That_ _explains_ _the_ _look_ , she figured.

Vanessa smiled. “I didn’t expect you to, Captain.”

“Good.”

 

* * *

 

She hadn’t thought this through.

Of course, Vanessa wasn’t in the business of planning things through in the first place—that was Finral’s job. _Her_ job was making sure no one from her squad died while Finral either hid somewhere or panicked needlessly. Still, as she was now, sitting across from her captain in complete silence, she found herself wishing she’d _thought this through just a little bit._

”This sounds good, doesn’t it?” she spoke up, pointing at the item in question as she turned the menu around so that it faced her captain.

After eyeing her for a few moments, he grunted. “A sandwich.”

It took most of her strength not to collapse miserably against her chair when he said nothing more. Vanessa wondered what it’d take for Luck to dump a little too much tobasco sauce in Finral’s food. He was the reason she was in this mess—the least he could do was throw her a lifeline. Or two. Maybe some good wine too. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d talked to Yami while she’d been sober. Maybe in her early days, before she’d acquired a taste for wine.

Why had she thought that this would be a good idea? Oh right, Finral. 

She snapped the menu shut, offering Yami a belated smile. “Why don’t we order then?” she suggested, leaning over the table.

The suggestion had only left her mouth when she caught Finral sitting on one of the tables behind their captain. He flashed her a smile and a thumbs-up, same as he had earlier in the crowd, and she only barely resisted the urge to go over to him and _scream_. And then ask for some suggestions because almost six years later, she still hadn’t mastered the art of talking _normally_  (as in, without flirtatious and/or clingy undertones) with the man she liked.

Her attention returned to the man in question when she heard him say her name. “Hmm?” she questioned. “Sorry, what was—“

Somewhere in the few minutes she’d fantasized about dragging Finral out of the nice little tea shop and into someplace remote so she could scream out her frustrations, Yami had flagged down a waiter. Who had apparently written down most of their order already from what she could see as he repeated his question for her.

”I’ll take—“ she flipped through the menu, trying to remember which tea she’d decided on as she studiously ignored Yami’s piercing gaze. “—jasmine tea.”

The waiter quickly scribbled it down, repeating the entire order to them.

”Yeah, that works,” Yami told him in his usual dry tone. “When’ll the food come?”

Vanessa nodded her head as she listened to the waiter explain that it’d take at least half an hour, letting her eyes wander back to Finral for a brief moment. When she glanced to the right and saw he was gone, she quickly returned her sights back onto her companion.

Except she’d underestimated how observant her captain was willing to be today.

”Huh? You know, you keep staring at things today,” he said, sounding strangely calm. She waited for the irritation to wash over his ~~cute~~ expression. “It’s kinda pissing me off.”

The pink-haired witch smiled at him. There were two ways this could go down. She could throw Finral under the bus or... 

“Just looking around.” Her tone was casual—she’d learned pretty early on that innocent looked suspicious on her after Finral had pestered her about eating his beloved dessert the one time she’d been innocent. “I think I might come here again some day.”

Nothing more, nothing less. Her lies were always on the simple side and they left her less susceptible to getting caught.

Still, the man in front of her raised an eyebrow. “Someone behind me?” he asked. He didn’t look back to see for himself—so she counted that as a win.

”Of course. I count—“ She paused and actually counted them out. “—five people directly behind you.”

”Funny,” he deadpanned, before very obviously switching the topic. “When’d he say the food’s gonna be done?”

Visibly, there may not have been a change in her expression—but she was pretty sure she felt her shoulders relax. ”Thirty minutes, at least.” 

(She was mortified when Yami casually confirmed that he’d known Finral was hanging around them, about an hour into their lunch, and she was pretty sure Finral would be too when he’d find out. Still, she got another hour out of speculating why he was here, even though she knew all too well why. Maybe she’d get him a cake from that new bakery that opened up recently.)

**Author's Note:**

> okay so not my proudest work but at least I got it out.


End file.
